Thursday, November 13, 2008

The Voice that Makes You Fall in Love

Backstory: I’ve become a bit of an addict to the Broadway Channel on XM Radio. Broadway’s not for everyone, so don’t bail on me if you’re not into it…just hang on a bit, this is really about you I promise. You see, in the interest of your needs as a reader of Erotica with Soul, I’ve made it my mission to listen to all those Broadway singers and seek out the one whose voice makes one fall instantly in love. Not in my own interest, mind you, but so that I could inform you of who possesses such a magical voice, a voice that seizes one by the heart and sends the libido reeling.

Yesterday I found him at last.

It was an in-studio recording done by Seth Rudetsky for Sirius radio of a tenor singing the old Sammy Cahn number, “Be My Love.” By the third note (and believe me, the third note of “Be My Love” is inherently quite nice) I was clutching my steering wheel and thinking, “It’s him! It’s THE GUY!”

The guy was Jason Danieley.

Jason Danieley has the Voice. The Voice the Makes You Fall in Love. In the car, listening, I am clutching my heart with one hand and trying not to swoon on the freeway. He sings:

Be my loveFor no one else can end this yearningThis need that you and you alone createJust fill my armsThe way you’ve filled my dreamsThe dreams that you inspireWith every sweet desire

Be my loveAnd with your kisses set me burningOne kiss is all I need to seal my fateAnd hand in handWe’ll find love’s promised landThere’ll be no one but you for meEternallyIf you will be my love

Will I? Will I? Sir, seeing as you have TVTMYFIL, which I have long been seeking among scores of Broadway tenors, baritones and basses, yes, my answer is yes!

Immediately after dinner I hit the internet to find out who this guy was. Well, he’s an award-winning Broadway performer known particularly for his portrayal of the title role in “Candide” about a decade ago, as well as more recent appearances in “Curtains” and “The Full Monty” and a concert production of “South Pacific.” He’s 37 and was born in St. Louis. His wife is also a Broadway star and also an excellent vocalist. That’s about all I know, and yet…all I need to know. After all, if I knew his favorite cheesecake I would only be compelled to mail him a cheesecake, and that’s a little stalker-y.

Now with a voice like that, Jason Danieley could have looked like a yeti and I would give him a pass. However, I don’t mind that he doesn’t look like a yeti, he looks like this:

Sigh. God, what did this man’s mother do to deserve such offspring? But before I feel compelled to burst into “Close to You” (as in, “on the day that you were born the angels got together and decided to create a dream come true…”), why am I wasting time? You must, of course, must hear TVTWMYFIL yourself.

So here, if you go to Jason’s website, the beginning of “Be My Love” will play for you on this page: www.jasondanieley.com/audios.html. Even better, there is a little player on his MySpace page that will let you hear the entire song as well as other tracks from his new CD “Jason Danieley and the Frontier Heroes.”

Go. Listen. Now.

Okay, see, what did I tell you? Don’t you want to marry him? Or at least sit at his feet adoringly while he sings, even if he is singing to his wife who is not you, God bless her? How can you not rejoice in being alive in a world where this man sings the words “and with your kisses set me burning”? My heart swells with gratitude! And other parts of me too!

At long last, my quest has come to an end and I can ask for this CD for Christmas so I can enjoy the bliss of anticipating the day I can fill my car with the voice of Jason Danieley at will (risking of course, swooning on the freeway).

I am making it my life’s mission to hear him in person some day, and sadly, he just did a concert a couple of hours away from Milwaukee like a month ago. But never mind, I needed a new quest anyway!

Now go! Listen to him again! What harm can it do, you’re already hopelessly in love!